


Before the Sky Caves In

by Anonymous



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: A3! 69 Minute Challenge, Angst, Character Study, Familial Love, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Neglect, Introspection, Mild but tagging just in case, Platonic Relationships, Relationship Study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:54:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24950389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Their familial relationship seemed to persist, despite the cold institution they were affiliated with. The Organisation would rather bleach such emotions from their heads in favour of having better agents.Still, August seemed adamant on the wording of “family” and of making any place they stayed in a home.Prompt “A Home You Can Go Back To” For the A3! 69 Mins Challenge on Twitter.
Relationships: August & Utsuki Chikage
Comments: 10
Kudos: 25
Collections: Anonymous





	Before the Sky Caves In

There was nothing at all in life before August.

Just a lonely boy, who’d lie on the kitchen titles and wait in the cold all night. 

Evenings where time didn’t quite exist, as hours seemed to drag and mesh themselves together. He stared at the clock, too young to read the time, but understood the number 3, and the moonlight spilled across the tiles. 

Hungry, tired, still waiting dizzyingly, all night long….   
  


“April?” A voice came, snapping him awake. It was soft, lilted with the warmth of slightly sheepish humour. “I thought December was usually the one who falls asleep in random spots! I can’t deal with that from you too...” 

April blinked, staring at his laptop still open on his knees. He looked up at August, who handed him a plate of curry. He took it warily, glancing at the snow-headed boy, who peered around the back of August with a pouted frown.

“August forced me to help with dinner on my own, because you fell asleep and he wouldn’t let me wake you, and I don’t even like curry...” He yawned, glancing at April with disgruntlement. “Now I’m all sleepy again…”

“Come on, December...” August warned, shaking his head as he sat on the small couch. “You shouldn’t complain so much about looking after your family.”

 _Family._ April thought, as he took a spoonful of pleasantly spicy, yet slightly burnt curry. He thought that perhaps he didn’t mind the accidentally charcoaled flavour, because it tasted like home.

So it was with them, that he’d come to understand what a family actually was. 

August would scold them, roughing at December’s hair in playful discipline when he’d complain about such things. Still, his eyes were bright. They held a warm twinkle like the lilac night sky, always seeming so happy to take care of the younger two. 

August seemed to possess everything his mother hadn’t, and he wondered how blurred the lines are in this life. Could he have things like a family, or a brother in this place? Surely, August wouldn’t laugh if he knew he thought of him that way. He probably already agreed. 

Their familial relationship seemed to persist, despite the cold institution they were affiliated with. The Organisation would rather bleach such emotions from their heads in favour of having better agents. Still, August seemed adamant on the wording of “family” and of making any place they stayed in a home.

The first warehouse in his home country, where nights were cold. August would always put his arms around him at night, so the freezing air should be less harsh. 

He’d washed the dirt from his hair, cut it out of his eyes, and gave him soft coats and jumpers to shelter in.

And when December came, he’d taken him so sweetly under his wing as well. It seemed, August had a never ending amount of generosity, as he’d try, time and time again to cook delicious meals to keep them warm.

Though the walls were grey, August noted the things they liked. The shelves would quickly become lined with spices and marshmallows of different types.

April wondered, if it were August himself, that created homes out of buildings. Surely, it should be unpleasant to return each day to thin grey walls, but it wasn’t so bad to be greeted by the kindness of August’s smile.

  
  


It was different, after rougher missions, and yet so much the same. August’s busybody nature, in how he’d insist to help him though he wasn’t such a child anymore. 

“I can tend to my own wounds, August.” April would sigh. It was all in vain, as August was already dabbing at the blood in his usual composed frenzy.

“I’m sure you can, but I can do it better.” August said, in a manner that might sound like bragging, if one didn’t know August any better. April knew it was true, for surely he had decades extra years of this torment. 

It hurt him to watch, and he felt the pain shift from a physical pain in his side, to a strange twisting in his chest. 

A kind of melting feeling of heartbreak, as he grew older and had become aware of how self sacrificing August was. 

Sometimes he’d fear he’d overwork himself to death.

He’d awake at the crack of dawn to prepare for missions, spend hours after tending to wounds if need be, and would go straight to cooking dinner, always trying his hardest to be the best he could.

“I’m sorry I can’t do a little better!” August would laugh, as if it were all a joke and a game. He was always scolding himself, as if he would never be good enough. 

There was a time April had heard him cry, when he’d thought that they weren’t awake anymore. Lamenting years of enduring the Organisation’s hell. April couldn’t comprehend how much pain August kept inside himself.

So, like August had done for him a thousand times, he’d walk slowly over. 

“August?...”

“Mm… Sorry!” August blinked frantically, trying to push the tears back from his eyes. “Is there something you need?” He asked with a tragically soft smile.

April was never good with words. Never quite knew what to say to anyone, or how to silence that suffering in August’s head. 

He did what felt most natural, just sat quietly beside him, and moved his head against his shoulder.

“August…” He muttered again, as August leaned into the gentle touch. 

“Yeah?” He asked with a slipping exhaustion.

“Thank you…” 

“...For what, exactly?” 

“For giving me a home to come back to…” April murmured quietly. “You’ve done more for me than I think you understand so… thank you for everything.”

April felt him turn away at that, letting out a shaky sigh of grief. April didn’t want him to turn away, or to hide such pain and regrets from him. He wondered why August couldn’t quite see how much he’d done for him.

It hurt him to watch how August swallowed, looking away in some embarrassed show of shame. Made him more afraid at the idea of losing the one thing he finally had.

After everything, all those lonely, painful nights - August had stolen him away from it all. The Organisation was a rough way to live, but they had each other, and April _needed_ that. 

_Here._ With August, he wasn’t so lonely anymore. He had a home, and the idea that it could all just disappear one day was the one thing April feared above everything.

“I mean it, August. Don’t be so hard on yourself, please….” April said, and squeezed his arms tightly around him. He could feel tears burn his own eyes, as he squeezed around him with such agonising anguish.

“Please… Look after yourself…” He whispered desperately, as hot tears stung his cheeks.

  
  


“I couldn’t cope if I lost you….” 


End file.
